28 February 2025 – As the COP process ended without consensus in Colombia last year, negotiators met this week to resolve mobilisation of the Cali Fund. Here’s what CISL Nature Lead, Harry Greenfield, makes of the outcome.
With changing geopolitics casting doubt on the ability of multilateralism to solve the world’s pressing problems, it is heartening to see some global agreement from the conclusion of the COP16 UN nature negotiations in Rome this week.
Countries from around world reached consensus on the need to mobilise $200bn annually for nature by 2030 from all sources, public, private and philanthropic – as well as on monitoring processes to track progress in meeting global nature targets.
Picking up from where discussions ended in Cali, Colombia, in October last year, the focus was on implementation of the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). The GBF, which was originally agreed at COP15 in 2022, set a range of ambitious targets aiming to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030. Negotiations at COP16 centred on the delivery plans, money and monitoring processes needed to achieve these targets.
The talks in Colombia achieved some important successes. These included formal recognition for indigenous people and local communities in the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) process; the establishment of the Cali Fund, which will channel resources into biodiversity projects from companies (such as pharmaceutical and biotech) that benefit from digital information based on genetic resources; and discussions around greater cooperation between climate and nature COPs.
However, the convention became stuck on the issue of funding (or resource mobilisation, as the CBD refers to it), with many old tensions between countries resurfacing. The talks ended as delegates left Colombia and quorum was lost, leading to a second round of negotiations in Rome this week. This gave countries an opportunity to continue negotiations and try to break the deadlock. It is notable that a few countries, including the US, who are not signatories to the convention, were missing from the talks in Rome.
Top of the agenda in Rome was the continued attempt to develop a resource mobilisation strategy to try and meet the GBF target to deliver $200bn annually in nature finance by 2030. While there was agreement on the need to deliver this funding, countries were less aligned over how to do so, including whether to create a new global biodiversity fund or to stick with existing mechanisms, such as the Global Environment Facility.
This week’s talks concluded with agreement on a resourcing strategy for the period up to 2030, which aims to use all levers available to close the large (up to $1 trillion) gap between current nature finance and what is needed to halt and reverse nature loss. Parties set out a plan to decide on the mechanism for distributing funds from developed to developing countries. This was a compromise agreement and left many of the difficult decisions still to make, but at least it reiterated the commitment to deliver the funding needed and to taking the necessary decisions in the future.
It is encouraging to see signs of progress in the all-important matter of how to pay for nature’s recovery. It was also positive to see countries committing to tackle difficult issues such as the links between biodiversity finance and debt sustainability, and how to encourage more countries to contribute funding. The 2030 target year is rapidly approaching. However, these talks have shown that reaching consensus is not quick and time is not on our side. In this context, the role of the private sector in maintaining momentum and unlocking quicker wins will be all important.
The Global Biodiversity Framework makes clear that funding needs to come from all sources, and with governments under increasing fiscal pressure, businesses and financial institutions are coming into the spotlight. Although they have their own set of challenges there is an increasing understanding of the extent to which the economy depends on nature and the impacts it causes. The challenging context will require increased leadership from those involved, starting by making the case for nature at the political and commercial level.
The strategy agreed in Rome up to 2030 contains the ingredients to deliver the increase in funds needed. This includes leveraging private finance and promoting business models that deliver nature positive outcomes. It will now be up to national governments, businesses, financial institutions and civil society to work together to deliver on these ambitions.